Community Quilting: The Ray Edition

Ray is a busy one and finishing up lots of the quilt tops I had sent.  I first sent  12 thinking it would take a long time…but nope.  Ray is a machine!!  The quilts are being tackled in a speedy manor.  In fact they are getting finished faster than I can get the blog posts written about them.

Ray writes:
Just finished another quilt. This top was part of the original 12 that you sent me but you labeled it as “bonus from Ellie.””

The fabric and the design are spectacular. It was really an eye popper when I saw it. The size was 43 x 43 and needed to be larger for Project Linus. I added a three inch border and had to make it blend in. I was lucky and had the dark brown squares in my stash and bought some gold print that worked with the rest of the quilt. I really like how it came out.”

I found a Baptist fan pattern to quilt it with.”


Thanks to you and Ellie for the great top.”

The next quilt that Ray finished is this one….

The monkey quilt came in at 31 x 51. Too small for Project Linus. I added a border of brown and teal to get it up to 43 x 58.”


I love how the teal border pulls out the teal on the monkey hats. Joann does a great job of piecing and makes quilting them a breeze.”


Aren’t both of the quilts awesome??

It’s so fun for me to see them as I see the quilts in person and then see them in pictures finished.  Ray does awesome work.

I have to laugh…Ray and I have been emailing back and forth over the last couple months.  The other day Ray wrote, I have to tell you, I’m a guy.  I smiled big when I read that.  I’ll admit I did wonder a time or two as Ray can easily be a guy or girl name…kind of like Jo.  Typically guys spell Jo with an “e” as in Joe.  Any Ray I’ve known has been all spelled Ray, guy or girl.  Ray wrote, “My Mother told me I needed to know how to take care of myself and so she taught me everything she knew to teach me. I really appreciate her for that.”

I am really appreciating her for that too as Ray has been an awesome help to the charity quilt group we all have going here.

Anyway my great apologies to Ray if I mixed up pronouns in the past and put in a “she” in my writing.  As I told Ray, gender matters not to me…I love helping hands and a quilter is a quilter in my book.

Speaking of helping hands.  Ray and I were chatting and I told him that if there was anything he needed to please let me know.  I would send word out to all of you and maybe some of you could pitch in and help meet some of the needs.  Ray said he could use more “stash”.  Right now I am sending lots of tops to him that need a border to bring them to the size needed.  For example he needed border fabric for both of the quilts shown today.

If anyone has fabrics they are cleaning out, Ray will happily take it off your hands.  For this, cuts of 1/2 yard or larger would probably be best.  Here is his contact raylagrange52@gmail.com

I also sent Ray some string quilt tops.  The makers (the Cresco ladies) used a foundation fabric.  Living in Florida and donating the quilts to people of Florida, Ray was wondering what people do as far as batting.  Being the quilts are already heavy with that second layer of fabric as foundation, do you still use a batting?

Thanks to the ladies who donated the tops for Ray to finish…thanks to Ray for finishing them…and thanks to all of you who will consider sending fabric Ray’s way..and those of you who leave a comment to give Ray some suggestions on how you finish string quilts.

17 thoughts on “Community Quilting: The Ray Edition”

  1. More great teamwork for good? Way to go Ray! Flannel is an option for “batting” for the String Quilts mentioned. There won’t be as good of stitch definition, but the resulting quilt will be lighter weight.

  2. Many just use flannel on the back – but remember we do get lots of cold days too. :-) I’ve been making quilts for family here in FL and they like the light batting too.
    Kevin the Quilter is also a a quilter – here’s his blog…
    https://kevinthequilter.blogspot.com/
    Love and prayers

  3. Love that Ray is a quilter. Sewing is a skill that neither of my children were interested in, but I did make sure both my daughter and my son learned how to do minor repairs…buttons, hems, etc as well as how to cook, clean, do laundry, etc. even if they didn’t always want to.

  4. i like Quilter’s Dream Cotton “Request” batting when I am making t-shirt quilts and want something thinner an lighter. It’s very thin and low loft but still provides softness. Not too hot.

  5. Beautiful quilts and beautiful quilting Ray! A lightweight batting I would think is fine in those string quilts as Florida does get some cold weather. I will go through my stash and see what I have and email Ray. Thanks to ALL the helping hands that make charity work possible! Hugs from South Carolina.

  6. I usually put a batting in all my string quilts, and I only use foundation fabric as I can’t be bothered with paper. I want to use up ALL my fabric, including old sheets that don’t look so great.
    A few years ago I made a lap quilt of flowered fabric for someone who loves flowers. I backed it with a sheet so nothing would show through, then used large fleece scraps as the back. I didn’t stitch in the ditch, just attached the fleece with three lines of stitching through the front of the fabric.
    After she died the quilt was sent back to me and I realized that I was Not liking my stitching. So I removed the front to back stitching, opened up the center fleece seam on the back, and gently put in one layer of batting (and you know how thin those layers are nowadays!) I hand stitched the fleece seam shut, then carefully pinned all the layers together and Stitched around all the squares with my machine. At Last the little flower garden patches had the definition they needed!! Now I am happy with it.

  7. Beautiful quilts! My middle name is Rae for my dad Ray who’s dad’s name was also Ray.

  8. Ray, I would say to use some light batting in the quilts. People in Florida can be cold at temperatures that we northerners think are just great. When my parents moved down there it took them about a year but they started wearing jackets when the temperature got down to 70 degrees. (They laughed about it too.)

  9. Ray you did a nice job finishing those quilts and making them a size to fit a need in the community. I also taught our son and daughter how to mend using a machine and how to sew some simple items. Everyone should know how to sew on a button and also how to change a tire on there vehicle. My father taught me to weld, put in a light switch and lots of other useful stuff, which I so appreciate. I think being from a farm family there was work for all and who cared how it got done or by whom. Welcome to the Jo’s quilting friends and look forward to more of your finishes.

  10. I’m a Floridian, and yes, we use batting in most of our quilts. I have made one or two flannel quilts without batting, and they just feel weird–all I could feel is the seams through the layers. And we get cold here, too. Sometimes 70 degrees is cold to us, when it wouldn’t be to someone up north. Any batting except wool should work fine. I wouldn’t use wool batting for Florida quilts.

  11. lorraine bujnowski

    I love reading about all the charity quilts that you complete. I am interested in the Baptist fan quilting pattern. Which one did you use or is your machine computerized?

  12. Susan the Farm Quilter

    I find that I can feel the seams in a quilt with no batting. Southern blood is thin and needs batting in quilts to keep them warm!! Heck, I need batting in my quilts to keep me warm no matter where I am!!!

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